Systems and methods for processing incoming events while performing a virtual reality session

ABSTRACT

A virtual reality (VR) system including a virtual reality display and a virtual reality host is provided. The virtual reality display is arranged for displaying a virtual environment for a virtual reality user. The virtual reality host is arranged for performing a virtual reality session to generate the virtual environment using the virtual reality display and creating a virtual interface to sync and interact with a source unit, wherein when the source unit receives an incoming event, the virtual reality host receives a notification regarding the incoming event from the source unit and provides the notification to the virtual interface to generate an alert for the notification to the screen of the virtual reality display in the virtual environment for the virtual reality user.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 14/657,022filed on Mar. 13, 2015, which claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/072,615, filed on Oct. 30, 2014, and, the entirety ofwhich are incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The disclosure relates generally to mobile communications and, moreparticularly, to systems and methods for processing incoming eventswhile performing a virtual reality session.

Description of the Related Art

With the development of computer technology, applications of VirtualReality have become more and more popular. Virtual reality is anartificial environment that is created with software and presented tothe user in such a way that the user suspends belief and accepts it as areal environment. For virtual reality application, a user may use ahead-mounted display (HMD), which is a display device worn directly onthe head of the user or as part of a helmet, as a display device inorder to be immersed in a virtual reality (VR) session. The HMD iscapable of receiving and rendering video output from the program runningon the computer and/or on the game system. When the HMD is placed by auser on his head for performing a virtual reality session (e.g., avirtual reality game), it is either difficult or impossible to interactwith this user's regular phone. When the phone of the user rings, onemay have to remove his or her HMD to check on the alert screen of thephone to check the incoming events. This forcefully removes the userfrom the virtual reality world. Although it certainly would be fine if alegitimate incoming event comes to a phone to which the user mustattend, many of the events can indeed be delayed until the virtualreality session finishes. Moreover, in certain virtual realityconfigurations, a converter kit may convert a smartphone into a virtualreality HMD. In such a case, if this phone is the user's primary dailyphone, a downside of this configuration is that it further complicateshow a user shall respond to this phone as an alert comes in.

It is therefore desirable to provide systems and methods for processingincoming event while performing a virtual reality session withoutneeding to leave the virtual reality session.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Virtual reality systems and methods for processing incoming event whileperforming a virtual reality session are provided.

An embodiment of a virtual reality (VR) system includes a virtualreality display and a virtual reality host. The virtual reality displayis arranged for displaying a virtual environment for a virtual realityuser. The virtual reality host is arranged for performing a virtualreality session to generate the virtual environment using the virtualreality display and creating a virtual interface to sync and interactwith a source unit, wherein when the source unit receives an incomingevent, the virtual reality host receives a notification regarding theincoming event from the source unit and provides the notification to thevirtual interface to generate an alert for the notification to thescreen of the virtual reality display in the virtual environment for thevirtual reality user.

In another embodiment, a method for processing incoming events isprovided. The method for processing incoming events includes the stepsof: using a virtual reality module, performing a virtual reality sessionto generate a virtual environment on a virtual reality display andcreating a virtual interface to sync and interact with a source unit ina virtual reality host; receiving, by the virtual reality host, anotification regarding an incoming event from a source unit via awireless transmission; and transmitting, by the virtual reality host,the notification to the virtual interface to provide an alert for thenotification to the screen of the virtual reality display within thevirtual environment for the virtual reality user.

Another embodiment of a mobile device includes a wireless communicationunit, a touch panel and a processing unit. The wireless communicationunit is configured to sync and interact with a virtual interface in avirtual reality host. Upon receiving an incoming event, the processingunit transmits a notification regarding the incoming event to thevirtual host via the wireless communication unit to enable the virtualreality host to provide the notification to the virtual interface so asto generate an alert for the notification into the virtual environmentfor the virtual reality user.

Another embodiment of a mobile device includes a wireless communicationunit, a touch panel and a processing unit. The processing unit providesa virtual reality (VR) module to perform a virtual reality session togenerate a virtual environment on the touch panel and creates a virtualinterface, wherein upon receiving an incoming event, the processing unitprovides a notification regarding the incoming event to the virtualinterface so as to generate an alert for the notification into thevirtual environment for the virtual reality user according to thenotification.

Another embodiment of a wearable device includes a wirelesscommunication unit, a touch panel and a processing unit. The wirelesscommunication unit is configured to sync and interact with a virtualinterface in a virtual reality host. Upon receiving an incoming event,the processing unit transmits a notification regarding the incomingevent to the virtual host via the wireless communication unit to enablethe virtual reality host to provide the notification to the virtualinterface so as to generate an alert for the notification into thevirtual environment for the virtual reality user.

Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparentto those with ordinary skill in the art upon review of the followingdescriptions of specific embodiments of the virtual reality systems, andmobile devices for carrying out the incoming event processing methods.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will become more fully understood by referring to thefollowing detailed description with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a virtual reality (VR) system accordingto an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the functional units of thevirtual reality host according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the functional units of thesource unit according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method for processing incomingevents according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are schematic diagrams illustrating embodiments of thedisplay of the virtual reality display in the virtual environment of theinvention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process for processing theincoming event according to an embodiment of the invention; and

FIGS. 7A to 7F are schematic diagrams illustrating embodiments of thevirtual reality configuration of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following description is of the best-contemplated mode of carryingout the invention. This description is made for the purpose ofillustrating the general principles of the invention and should not betaken in a limiting sense. It should be understood that the embodimentsmay be realized in software, hardware, firmware, or any combinationthereof.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics maybe combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Oneskilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the inventioncan be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or withother methods, components, etc. In other instances, well-knownstructures, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoidobscuring aspects of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a virtual reality (VR) system accordingto an embodiment of the invention. The VR system 10 comprises a VR host100, a VR display 200 and a source unit 300, wherein the source unit 300may be a mobile phone, a smartphone, a Portable Media Player (PMP), ahandheld gaming console, or a smart accessory (e.g., smart watch orsmart glasses). In some embodiments, the VR host 100 may be a desktopPersonal Computer (PC), a panel PC, a tablet computer, or a notebook,and the invention is not limited thereto.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the functional units of the VRhost 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. The VR host 100comprises a wireless communication unit 110, a processing unit 120, anda storage unit 130.

The VR host 100 may support various communications protocols, such asthe code division multiple access (CDMA), Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), High-SpeedDownlink Packet Access (HSDPA), Wi-Fi (such as IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n),Bluetooth, and Wi-MAX communication protocol, and a protocol for emails,instant messaging (IM), and/or a short message services (SMS), but theinvention is not limited thereto. The wireless communication unit 110 isresponsible for providing the function of wired or wireless networkaccess, so that the VR host 100 may connect to one or more source units300 or other devices. The wired network access may include an Ethernetconnection, an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), a cableconnection, or the like. The wireless network access may include aconnection to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), a WCDMA system, aCode Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA-2000) system network, a TimeDivision-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) system, aWorldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) system, a LongTerm Evolution (LTE) system, an LTE Advanced (LTE-A) system, or aTime-Division LTE (TD-LTE) system. The wireless communication unit 110may comprise a Radio Frequency (RF) unit and a Baseband unit.Specifically, the Baseband unit may contain multiple hardware devices toperform baseband signal processing, including ADC/DAC, gain adjusting,modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, and so on, while the RF unitmay receive RF wireless signals, convert the received RF wirelesssignals to baseband signals, which are processed by the Baseband unit,or receive baseband signals from the baseband unit and convert thereceived baseband signals to RF wireless signals, which are transmittedlater. The RF unit may also contain multiple hardware devices to performradio frequency conversion, such as a mixer for multiplying the basebandsignals with a carrier oscillated in the radio frequency of the wirelesscommunications system, wherein the radio frequency may be 2.4 GHz or 5GHz utilized in the Wireless-Fidelity (WiFi) technology, or may be2.402-2.480 GHz utilized in the Bluetooth technology, or othersdepending on the wireless technology in use. To be more specific, the VRhost 100 may connect to the source unit 300 via the wirelesscommunication unit 110 for transmitting data to or receiving data fromthe source unit 300. For example, the VR host 100 may transmit asynchronization request to the source unit 300 to pair and sync with itand receive data from the source unit 300 via the wireless communicationunit 110.

The processing unit 120 may include a processor. The processor may be aCentral Processing Unit (CPU), Micro-Control Unit (MCU), Digital SignalProcessor (DSP), or the like, which provides the function of dataprocessing and computing. In this embodiment, the processing unit 120may operate to perform a virtual reality session to provide visualinformation depicting a virtual environment, such that the VR user ofthe VR host 100 can interact through the virtual environment. Moreover,the processing unit 120 can operate to support communications or thedelivery of information that is related to incoming events detected inthe source unit 300 through the virtual environment presented. Forproviding a virtual environment, the processing unit 120 of the VR host100 can implement or provide a VR module. Generally, the VR moduleoperates to present the virtual environment to the VR user who wears theVR display 200 (e.g., a dedicated head-mounted VR display (HMD) device)through the VR display 200. Moreover, the virtual environment can becontrolled by the VR module. More particularly, the processing unit 120may load and execute a series of instructions and/or program codes fromthe storage unit 130 to control the operation of the wirelesscommunication unit 110 and the processing unit 120, and provide a VRmodule, perform a VR session to generate a virtual environment on the VRdisplay 200 using the VR module and create a virtual interface to syncand interact with the source unit 300, for performing the method forprocessing the incoming events of the invention, including; receiving,by the VR host 100, a notification regarding an incoming event from thesource unit 300 via a wireless transmission (e.g., via a Wi-Fi orBluetooth communication) and providing, by the VR host 100, thenotification to the VR host 100 to generate an alert for thenotification to the screen of the VR display 200 within the virtualenvironment for the VR user.

The storage unit 130 may be a non-volatile storage medium (e.g.,Read-Only Memory (ROM), Flash memory, magnetic tape, hard disk, oroptical disc), or a volatile storage medium (e.g., Random Access Memory(RAM)), or any combination thereof for storing data, such asinstructions, program codes, and input data from users. To be morespecific, application codes stored in the storage unit 130 can beexecuted by the processing unit 120 to create the virtual interfacecomponent to sync and interact with the source unit 300 for performingthe method for processing the incoming events of the invention.

Although not shown, the VR host 100 may further comprise otherfunctional units, such as an Input/Output (I/O) device, e.g., a button,keyboard, mouse, etc., for controlling the VR session and the inventionis not limited thereto.

The VR display 200 can be any display device capable of providing visualinformation depicting a virtual environment used in VR simulation andthe VR user can wear the VR display 200 to join in the virtualenvironment. In some embodiments, the VR display 200 can be a dedicatedHMD device. In some embodiments, the display of the mobile device (suchas the screen of a smartphone) can also serve as the VR display 200, andthe invention is not limited thereto.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the functional units of thesource unit 300 according to an embodiment of the invention. In someembodiments, the source unit 300 can be a mobile device, such as a PDA(Personal Digital Assistant), a smartphone, a mobile phone, an MID(Mobile Internet Device, MID), a laptop computer, a car computer, adigital camera, a multi-media player, a game device, a smart accessory(e.g., smart watch or smart glasses) or any other type of mobilecomputational device, however, it should be understood that theinvention is not limited thereto. The source unit 300 comprises awireless communication unit 310, a touch panel 320, a processing unit330, and a storage unit 340. The wireless communication unit 310 isresponsible for providing the function of wired or wireless networkaccess, so that the source unit 300 may connect to the VR host 100. Thewired network access may include an Ethernet connection, an AsymmetricDigital Subscriber Line (ADSL), a cable connection, or the like. Thewireless network access may include a connection to a Wireless LocalArea Network (WLAN), a WCDMA system, a Code Division Multiple Access2000 (CDMA-2000) net system work, a Time Division-Synchronous CodeDivision Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) system, a Worldwide Interoperabilityfor Microwave Access (WiMAX) system, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system,an LTE Advanced (LTE-A) system, or a Time-Division LTE (TD-LTE) system.The wireless communication unit 310 may comprise a Radio Frequency (RF)unit and a Baseband unit. Specifically, the Baseband unit may containmultiple hardware devices to perform baseband signal processing,including ADC/DAC, gain adjusting, modulation/demodulation,encoding/decoding, and so on, while the RF unit may receive RF wirelesssignals, convert the received RF wireless signals to baseband signals,which are processed by the Baseband unit, or receive baseband signalsfrom the baseband unit and convert the received baseband signals to RFwireless signals, which are transmitted later. The RF unit may alsocontain multiple hardware devices to perform radio frequency conversion,such as a mixer for multiplying the baseband signals with a carrieroscillated in the radio frequency of the wireless communications system,wherein the radio frequency may be 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz utilized in theWireless-Fidelity (WiFi) technology, or may be 2.402-2.480 GHz utilizedin the Bluetooth technology, or others depending on the wirelesstechnology in use. To be more specific, the source unit 300 may connectto the VR host 100 via the wireless communication unit 310 fortransmitting data to or receiving data from the VR host 100. Forexample, the source unit 300 may transmit a notification to the VR host100 when receiving an incoming event, such as an incoming call or anymessages sent to the source units (e.g., short message service (SMS)message, multimedia messaging service (MMS) message, email message,social-network message and so on) via the wireless communication unit310.

The touch panel 320 may include a display device, such as aLiquid-Crystal Display (LCD), a Light-Emitting Diode (LED), or anElectronic Paper Display (EPD), for providing the display function anddetecting contact or proximity of objects (e.g., a finger or touch pen)thereon, thereby providing a touch-based user interface. The displaydevice can display data, such as text, figures, interfaces, and/orinformation. It should be understood that, in some embodiments, thedisplay device may be integrated with a touch-sensitive unit (notshown). The touch-sensitive unit has a touch-sensitive surfacecomprising sensors in at least one dimension to detect contact andmovement of at least one object (input tool), such as a pen/stylus orfinger near or on the touch-sensitive surface. Accordingly, users areable to input commands or signals via the screen of the display device.

The processing unit 330 may include a processor. The processor may be aCentral Processing Unit (CPU), Micro-Control Unit (MCU), Digital SignalProcessor (DSP), or the like, which provides the function of dataprocessing and computing. More particularly, the processing unit 330 mayload and execute a series of instructions and/or program codes from thestorage unit 340 to control the operation of the wireless communicationunit 310, the touch panel 320, and the processing unit 330, forperforming the method for processing the incoming events of theinvention, including synchronizing and interacting with the virtualinterface generated in the VR host 100 and upon receiving an incomingevent, transmitting a notification regarding the incoming event to theVR host 100 via the wireless communication unit 310 to enable the VRhost 100 to provide the notification to the virtual interface so as togenerate an alert for the notification into the virtual environment tonotify the VR user.

The storage unit 340 may be a non-volatile storage medium (e.g.,Read-Only Memory (ROM), Flash memory, magnetic tape, hard disk, oroptical disc), or a volatile storage medium (e.g., Random Access Memory(RAM)), or any combination thereof for storing data, such asinstructions, program codes, and input data from users.

Although they are not shown, the source unit 300 may further compriseother functional units, such as an Input/Output (I/O) device, e.g.,button, keyboard, or mouse, etc., and the invention is not limitedthereto.

In one embodiment, the source unit 300 can be a mobile device (e.g.,smartphone). In another embodiment, the source unit 300 can be awearable device (e.g., smart watch or smart glasses).

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method for processing incomingevents according to an embodiment of the invention. The method can beapplied to the VR host 100 and performed by the processing unit 120 asshown in FIG. 2. In this embodiment, the VR host 100 is implemented by adesktop personal computer (PC), the VR display 200 is implemented by adedicated head-mounted display (HMD) and the source unit 300 is asmartphone, however, it should be understood that the invention is notlimited thereto.

When a user wishes to perform a VR session, a VR module is provided andis used to perform a VR session to generate a virtual environment on theVR display 200 and create a virtual interface to sync and interact withthe source unit 300 (e.g., a regular smartphone of the VR user) in theVR host 100 (step S402). For example, when a Bluetooth communication isselected as a protocol for the wireless transmission, the VR host 100may use a suitable emulator to create a software application which iscompatible with a wearable platform with the name “Virtual interface” onit. The source unit 300 can then detect and connect this application byselecting the name “Virtual interface” on the available Bluetooth devicelist and pair with this virtual interface. After the virtual interfaceand the source unit 300 have been successfully paired, the source unit300 is able to sync with the virtual interface in the VR host 100.

Thereafter, when an incoming event such as an incoming call or anynotification that pops up on the source unit 300 is received by thesource unit 300, the VR host 100 gets a notification simultaneously andthus a notification regarding the incoming event is received from thesource unit 300 via a wireless transmission (e.g. via aWiFi-transmission or a Bluetooth transmission) by the VR host 100 (stepS404). Upon receiving the notification regarding the incoming event fromthe source unit 300, the VR host 100 further provides the notificationto the virtual interface to generate an alert for the notification tothe screen of the VR display 200 within the virtual environment for theVR user (step S406). To be more specific, the VR host 100 will enable analert (e.g., a blinking green light or a pop-up message) on the displayof VR display 200 so that the VR user can get the most updated messagewithin the virtual environment, without needing to leave the VR session.Then, the VR user can decide whether or not to switch to a userinterface corresponding to the virtual interface within the virtualenvironment, wherein the user interface represents visual informationcorresponding to the incoming event. In some embodiments, the VR host100 may further switch to display a user interface corresponding to thevirtual interface in the virtual environment through the VR display 200in response to a user selection. For example, if the incoming event isan incoming call from a friend A, the user interface represents visualinformation of “Call from A, answer?” into the display of the VR display200 in the virtual environment. Please refer to FIGS. 5A-5B, whichillustrate embodiments of the display of the VR display 200 in thevirtual environment of the invention. As shown in FIG. 5A, the VRsession displays a VR object 500 in the virtual environment. When anincoming call is received by the source unit 300, the virtual interfacegets a notification simultaneously from the VR host 100 and thus the VRhost 100 will be notified and will provide user interface 510representing visual information regarding the incoming call on the VRobject 500 as shown in FIG. 5B. Thus, the VR user can get the mostupdated message (e.g., there is an incoming call from Mr. A) within thevirtual environment via the user interface 510, without needing to leavethe VR session. The VR host 100 may further allow the VR user to processthe incoming event via the user interface provided. The user may controland answer the call by operating the original input devices used in theVR session to input the user selection.

In some embodiments, after the processing of the incoming event isfinished or the user determines not to answer the incoming call, the VRhost 100 may terminate the displaying of the user interface and switchback to continue the VR session in the virtual environment through theVR display 200.

In some embodiments, the VR host 100 may further connect to a wearabledevice, which may include, but are not limited to, smart watches, smartbracelets, and smart rings, and configure the wearable device as a humaninterface device (HID) of the virtual interface for controlling the VRsession in the virtual environment. To be more specific, following thesame steps for synchronization between the virtual interface and thesource unit 300 in step 204 as described above, the virtual interfacecan communicate with a wearable device and use it as a Human InterfaceDevice (HID). After the wearable device has been successfully configuredas the HID of the virtual interface, the user can control the incomingevents in the virtual environment through predetermined gestures usingthe wearable device. In such a configuration, when the user wishes toprocess the incoming event, the user may send his instructions using agesture on the wearable device. The VR host 100 may then receive theuser's gesture from the wearable device and process the incoming eventin the virtual environment in response to the user's gesture generatedon the wearable device.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process for processing theincoming event according to an embodiment of the invention. In thisembodiment, the VR host 100 is implemented by a PC, the VR display 200is implemented by a dedicated HMD and the source unit 300 is asmartphone, however, it should be understood that the invention is notlimited thereto.

When a user wishes to perform a VR session, a virtual interface iscreated using the emulator (step 602) to pair and sync with thesmartphone by the PC. The smartphone can then detect and connect thisapplication by selecting the name “Virtual interface” on the availableBluetooth device list and pair with this virtual interface in the PC(step 604). After the virtual interface and the smartphone have beensuccessfully paired, the smartphone is able to sync with the PC (step606). Thereafter, when an incoming message is received by the smartphone(step 608), the smartphone sends a notification regarding the incomingmessage to the PC via a wireless transmission (step 610). Upon receivingthe notification regarding the incoming event from the smartphone, thePC further provides the notification to the virtual interface to displayan alert corresponding to the notification to the screen of the HMDwithin the virtual environment for the VR user via the HMD (step 612)and the HMD may notify the user via a blinking light on the display ofHMD (step 614). Then, the VR user may determine whether or not to switchto a user interface corresponding to the virtual interface within thevirtual environment and may interact with the virtual interface forprocessing the message (step 616). The user may control and answer thecall by operating the original input devices used in the VR session toinput the user selection.

In addition, embodiments of the invention further provide a number of VRconfigurations for implementing the VR system 10. In some embodiments,the VR host 100 can be implemented by a desktop personal computer (PC)and the VR display 200 can be implemented by a dedicated head-mounteddisplay (HMD). In some embodiments, the VR host 100 and the VR display200 can be implemented by the same device, such as a mobile phone. Forexample, the processing unit of a mobile phone can serve as the VR host100 and the display device of the mobile phone can serve as the VRdisplay 200. In some embodiments, the VR host 100, the VR display 200and the source unit 300 can be implemented by the same device. In otherwords, for example, in addition to being a source unit 300, theprocessing unit of a mobile phone can serve as the VR host 100 and thedisplay device of the mobile phone can serve as the VR display 200. Insome embodiments, the VR host 100 or the VR display 200 can beimplemented by a mobile device. In other words, the processing unit of amobile phone can serve as the VR host 100 or the display device of themobile phone can serve as the VR display 200.

In some embodiments, the source unit 300 can be a mobile device with awireless communication unit, a touch panel and a processing unit. Thewireless communication unit is configured to sync and interact with avirtual interface in the VR host 100. Upon receiving an incoming event,the processing unit transmits a notification regarding the incomingevent (e.g., an incoming call or message) to the VR host 100 via thewireless communication unit to enable the VR host 100 to provide anotification regarding the incoming event (e.g., an incoming call ormessage) to the virtual interface so as to generate an alert for thenotification into the virtual environment for the VR user.

In some embodiments, the source unit 300 can be a wearable device with awireless communication unit, a touch panel and a processing unit. Thewireless communication unit is configured to sync and interact with avirtual interface in the VR host 100. Upon receiving an incoming event,the processing unit transmits a notification regarding the incomingevent (e.g., an incoming call or message) to the VR host 100 via thewireless communication unit to enable the VR host 100 to provide anotification regarding the incoming event (e.g., an incoming call ormessage) to the virtual interface so as to generate an alert for thenotification into the virtual environment for the VR user.

In some embodiments, the VR host 100 can be a mobile device with awireless communication unit, a touch panel and a processing unit. Thewireless communication unit is configured to sync with a source unit 300(e.g., another mobile phone). The processing unit provides a VR moduleto perform a VR session to generate a virtual environment on the touchpanel and creates a virtual interface to sync and interact with thesource unit 300, wherein upon receiving an incoming event, theprocessing unit provides a notification regarding the incoming event tothe virtual interface so as to generate an alert for the notificationinto the virtual environment for the VR user according to thenotification through to the virtual interface.

For explanation, several embodiments of the VR configurations areillustrated in the following, but the invention is not limited thereto.It should be noted that, in the following embodiments, a primarysmartphone is defined as the smartphone that a user uses as a dailyphone, a secondary smartphone is defined as a spare smartphone, which isno longer used as a daily phone, and other wearable devices 400 mayinclude, but are not limited to, smart watches, smart bracelets, andsmart rings. Please refer to FIGS. 7A-7F, which illustrate embodimentsof the VR configuration of the invention.

In the first VR configuration, the first VR configuration includes thePC as the VR host 100, a dedicated head-mounted VR display as the VRdisplay 200, and the primary smartphone as the source unit 300, as shownin FIG. 7A. In one embodiment, when the VR host 100 creates the virtualworld through the dedicated head-mounted VR display, the VR host 100 cancreate a virtual smart watch as the virtual interface, e.g. by emulationor by running a suitable software in a virtual machine. This virtualsmart watch runs concurrently with the VR-related tasks in the VR host100. The virtual world and the virtual smart watch can communicatewithin the same host. The virtual smart watch can be terminated whenit's no longer needed.

In the second VR configuration, the second VR configuration includes thededicated head-mounted VR display as the VR display 200, the PC as theVR host 100, the primary smartphone as the source unit 300 and othersmart wearable devices 400 as the HIDs.

In the third VR configuration, the third VR configuration includes theprimary smartphone leveraged as the VR display 200 and the PC as the VRhost 100.

In the fourth VR configuration, the fourth VR configuration includes theprimary smartphone leveraged as the VR display 200, the PC as the VRhost 100 and other smart wearable devices 400 as the HIDs, as shown inFIG. 7B.

In the fifth VR configuration, the fifth VR configuration includes theprimary smartphone leveraged as the VR display 200 and the VR host 100.

In the sixth VR configuration, the sixth VR configuration includes theprimary smartphone leveraged as the VR display 200 and the VR host 100and other smart wearable devices 400 as the HIDs, as shown in FIG. 7C.

In the seventh VR configuration, the seventh VR configuration includesthe secondary smartphone leveraged as the VR display 200, the PC as theVR host 100 and the primary smartphone as the source unit 300.

In the eighth VR configuration, the eighth VR configuration includes thesecondary smartphone leveraged as the VR display 200, the PC as the VRhost 100, the primary smartphone as the source unit 300 and other smartwearable devices 400 as the HIDs, as shown in FIG. 7D.

In the ninth VR configuration, the ninth VR configuration includes thesecondary smartphone leveraged as the VR display 200 and the VR host 100and the primary smartphone as the source unit 300.

In the tenth VR configuration, the tenth VR configuration includes thesecondary smartphone leveraged as the VR display 200 and the VR host100, the primary smartphone as the source unit 300 and other smartwearable devices 400 as the HIDs.

In the eleventh VR configuration, the eleventh VR configuration includesthe primary smartphone leveraged as the VR display 200, the PC as the VRhost 100 and the smart wearable device as the source unit 300, as shownin FIG. 7E.

In the twelfth VR configuration, the twelfth VR configuration includesthe primary smartphone leveraged as the VR display 200 and the VR host100 and the smart wearable device as the source unit 300, as shown inFIG. 7F.

In another embodiment, a physical smart watch may create its virtualcounterpart in the VR host 100, e.g. by loading a corresponding softwareimage suitable for VR to a virtual machine in the VR host 100. In thissituation, the primary smartphone (i.e., the source unit 300) is pairedwith the virtual smart watch, instead of the physical one. In order toassist the user to control the virtual smart watch, the physical smartwatch can temporarily assume the role of a remote touch pad for thevirtual one. When the VR session ends, the virtual smart watch isterminated, and the smartphone is paired with the physical watch onceagain.

In some embodiments, virtual network computing (VNC) can also be used toaccess the physical smart watch to mirror the virtual smart watch in theVR host. In this situation, the physical smart watch serves as a VNCserver and the virtual smart watch serves as a VNC client in the VRhost. Thus, the smartphone will pair directly with the physical smartwatch.

Taking the first VR configuration as an example, when a user begins a VRsession, a virtual interface (e.g., in the form of a virtual smartwatch) is created in the VR host (e.g., the PC) and is synced andinteractive with the source unit (e.g., the primary smartphone of the VRuser). To the source unit, the virtual interface is no different from areal physical smart watch. In this embodiment, following the conventionbetween the primary smartphone and the virtual reality host, when theprimary smartphone needs to alert the VR user with a given event, italso passes the alert to the virtual reality host.

Thereafter, when the virtual reality host receives an event alert fromthe primary smartphone of the VR user, it can provide a notification inthe virtual world through the virtual interface. In the virtual world,if the user wishes to, he or she may then summon up the virtualinterface to quickly process the alerts. In this case, a VR HMDtypically has high enough resolution to ensure that the display of thevirtual interface can be shown to the user directly with clearlyreadable text and icons. Accordingly, the VR user can then interact withthe virtual interface, e.g. to scroll down screens, with the inputdevices he or she is using to control the virtual world.

According to the embodiments of the invention, users are allowing toquickly and easily examine incoming alerts in the virtual environmentwithout needing to leave the VR session, thus providing better userexperience. Moreover, the embodiments of the invention can join thewearable device to control the VR session, thus providing easy andintuitive control in the VR session and increasing value andentertainment effect on VR systems.

While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms ofpreferred embodiment, it should be understood that the invention is notlimited thereto. Those who are skilled in this technology can still makevarious alterations and modifications without departing from the scopeand spirit of this invention. Therefore, the scope of the presentinvention shall be defined and protected by the following claims andtheir equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A virtual reality (VR) system, comprising: avirtual reality display, displaying a virtual environment for a virtualreality user; and a virtual reality host, performing a virtual realitysession to generate the virtual environment using the virtual realitydisplay and creating a virtual interface to sync and interact with asource unit, wherein when the source unit receives an incoming event,the virtual reality host receives a notification regarding the incomingevent from the source unit and provides the notification to the virtualinterface to generate an alert for the notification to the screen of thevirtual reality display in the virtual environment for the virtualreality user, and wherein the virtual reality host further connects toand configures a device as a human interface device (HID) of the virtualinterface, and the virtual reality session is controlled by the HID inthe virtual environment.
 2. The virtual reality system of claim 1,wherein the virtual reality host further switches to display a userinterface corresponding to the virtual interface in the virtualenvironment through the virtual reality display in response to a userselection, wherein the user interface represents visual informationcorresponding to the incoming event.
 3. The virtual reality system ofclaim 2, wherein the virtual reality host further terminates thedisplaying of the user interface and switches back to continue thevirtual reality session in the virtual environment through the virtualreality display.
 4. The virtual reality system of claim 1, wherein thevirtual reality host further receives a user gesture from the wearabledevice and processes the incoming event in the virtual environment inresponse to the user gesture generated on the wearable device.
 5. Thevirtual reality system of claim 1, wherein the virtual reality host isimplemented by a desktop personal computer and the virtual realitydisplay is implemented by a dedicated head-mounted display (HMD).
 6. Thevirtual reality system of claim 1, wherein the virtual reality host andthe virtual reality display are implemented by the same device.
 7. Thevirtual reality system of claim 1, wherein the virtual reality host andthe virtual reality display are implemented by a mobile device.
 8. Thevirtual reality system of claim 1, wherein the virtual reality host, thevirtual reality display and the source unit are implemented by the samedevice.
 9. The virtual reality system of claim 1, wherein the virtualreality host or the virtual reality display is implemented by a mobiledevice.
 10. A method for processing incoming event, comprising: using avirtual reality module, performing a virtual reality session to generatea virtual environment on a virtual reality display and creating avirtual interface to sync and interact with a source unit in a virtualreality host; receiving, by the virtual reality host, a notificationregarding an incoming event from the source unit via a wirelesstransmission; providing, by the virtual reality host, an alert for thenotification to the screen of the virtual reality display within thevirtual environment for the virtual reality user through the virtualinterface; and connecting, by the virtual reality host, to andconfiguring a device as a human interface device (HID) of the virtualinterface, wherein the virtual reality session is controlled by the HIDin the virtual environment.
 11. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising: switching, by the virtual reality host, to display a userinterface corresponding to the virtual interface in the virtualenvironment through the virtual reality display in response to a userselection, wherein the user interface represents visual informationcorresponding to the incoming event.
 12. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: terminating, by the virtual reality host, the displaying ofthe user interface and switching back to continue the virtual realitysession in the virtual environment through the virtual reality display.13. The method of claim 10, further comprising: receiving, by thevirtual reality host, a user gesture from the wearable device; andprocessing, by the virtual reality host, the incoming event in thevirtual environment in response to the user gesture generated on thewearable device.
 14. A mobile device, comprising: a wirelesscommunication unit; a touch panel; and a processing unit coupled to thewireless communication unit and the touch panel, providing a virtualreality (VR) module to perform a virtual reality session to generate avirtual environment on the touch panel and creating a virtual interface,wherein upon receiving an incoming event, the processing unit provides anotification regarding the incoming event to the virtual interface togenerate an alert for the notification into the virtual environment forthe virtual reality user according to the notification, and wherein theprocessing unit further connects to and configures a device as a humaninterface device (HID) of the virtual interface, and the virtual realitysession is controlled by the HID in the virtual environment.
 15. Themobile device of claim 14, wherein the processing unit further switchesto display a user interface corresponding to the virtual interface inthe virtual environment through the touch panel in response to a userselection, wherein the user interface represents visual informationcorresponding to the incoming event.
 16. The mobile device of claim 15,wherein the processing unit further terminates the displaying of theuser interface and switches back to continue the virtual reality sessionin the virtual environment through the touch panel.
 17. The mobiledevice of claim 14, wherein the processing unit further receives a usergesture from the wearable device and processes the incoming event in thevirtual environment in response to the user gesture generated on thewearable device.